Fired from Job, still don't understand why

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I started working at a small rural hospital after leaving my first nursing job at a big teaching hospital in May. I am just over a year experienced in med-surg/telemetry and am three weeks away from completing my first semester in a full time FNP program. When first hired for the job, I was full time but at the time was accepted in the part time cohort of the FNP program. Not too soon after starting I found out that a position was available in the full time cohort so I made the switch and let my boss know that I needed to go PRN. I don't know if this ended up being my downfall. Today I go into work to discover that my name was not on the board for patients, didn't get worried I'm PRN so I figured maybe the supervisor forgot to call me off. So I go look up my schedule only to find out that all my shifts for this month have been crossed out. I call the housing supervisor and she tells me to call my floor manager because she is not aware of what's going on either. So anyway I proceed to do that and the floor manager (who lives up the street) tells me she'll come talk to me. Well of course when she comes she informs me she is letting me go because of complaints by other night shift staff members. I'm flabberghasted, I've been at the job going almost three months, have never been called into the office, and have never had a disagreement with my coworkers AT ALL. They are all real cliquish, I stay away from that aspect but I always help when asked. Anyway she listed off some issues that were mentioned to which I had a refute to everyone of them.

1) I leave the floor without telling people I am gone

I have always let people know if I was gonna leave the floor. Several nurses are smokers and leave the floor constantly to smoke. I always notified somebody and EVERYTIME I came back I made sure none of my paitents had needed assistance while I was gone. None ever did because I always made sure to attend to them before leaving. I usually never spent 10 to 15 mins off the floor and I defintely didn't leave more than 2 times for my 15 mins breaks (2 are permitted). We HAVE to clock out for our 30 mins breaks so I always went out to my car for those but was back within the time frame. The boss, who actually is a pretty nice lady (pushover), is a smoker so she had nothing to say because she knew others went outside constantly for their smoke breaks

2) I left the floor one night when specifically told to stay on the floor because two of the nurses were in the PCU

Now this one was just plain ridiculous and here in lies the clique part of it. I was never told to stay on the floor. The charge nurse and another nurse walked around the corner to the PCU nurse's station (a new concept at the hospital and the PCU nurse's station is acutally an old room of our floor so that tells you the distance to the main nurse's station). The two nurses went to the PCU to talk with another nurse in which a group of them were going out of town to get the same tattoo together. They were looking up hotels to stay at on the internet!!!!! Maybe I'm crazy but how I was I to know that I couldn't take my break for that. The monitor tech was there and the call light is answered by them anyway. Every nurse has a phone and he was aware of the other two's location. I thought they would be back on the floor within 5 mins, it was not an emergency situation. Told the monitor tech I was taking my break, the other two weren't even clocked out therefore not officially on break.

3) Lastly I "supposedly" refused to relieve a monitor tech the last night I worked

I rarely refuse to do anything but the last night I worked all three nurses were getting admits at the same time with the MD coming to the floor to write the orders. There was no way to relieve an MT for a smoke break at that point. This MT is usually a joker so I made the statement "I don't care if you don't get a break" in jest and he's so full of it if he reported I said it in a mean tone. We always laugh and joke together but he is quite addicted to cigarrettes to the point he shakes if he doesn't get his breaks in a timely manner so maybe he got upset. But my problem is although I was a telemetry nurse previously at my big hospital job, I had never found out if I was going to be able to actually sit for the man. I took a test but it was never graded, and the guy who administered the test quit two weeks ago. Every night I worked, I relieved this guy at least once sometimes three times to smoke, BUT I'm reported for the one night I'm too busy to do it.

This was my first time even hearing that staff were complaining, never received complaints from MDs or patients. And not one staff member ever came to me to say they were preceiving my actions the wrong way or that I didn't need to take smoke breaks. Never once has anyone ever not had a 24 hour chart check completed, orders in the system correctly, etc. I feel I just didn't blend with the clique, and the boss kind of told me this in so many words. She admittedly stated that night shift was close knit. I expressed my thought that this was all "mob mentality", one person took a dislike to me and it spread to the others by simple talking and gossip. I'm still in shock and really questioning my nursing career at the moment because I enjoyed this job. Nursing politics was prevalent at my previous job and I thought I had escaped by coming to a smaller rural hospital, just to find out I hadn't. School is my main focus right now but I don't know what to do, I know this happened for a reason but that reason is not clear. I know this is long but I felt all details should be necessary in case any one had any advice on what happened and where I should go from here. The boss said she would provide me a good recommendation so I'm prone to believe I just didn't fit into the clique and I have a feeling me not being full time was ammunition as well.

Well good news is I have a job interview Saturday for a prn position at a hospital 30 mins away. Wish me luck, I also picked up some shifts at a hospital 2 hours away via agency, gotta do what I gotta do...

After reading you responses to the "accusations", I can understand why you are puzzled and upset. It doesn't sound to me like you did anything wrong.

Sounds like a clique that has been eating sour grapes.

BE GLAD she is giving you a good recommendation, and take this as a sign that it times to move on! Personally, I wouldn't want to work with people that complained about me unfairly if I didn't have to. And it sounds like you do not have to. Good riddance!

Thanks so much for the responses I was really lost for awhile but thankfully I had signed up with the agency once going prn at that job just case I was cancelled a lot. I finally broke down and told my mother today expecting her to give me a big speech. But once she heard the story and the fact tht the woman promised me good recommendations she agreed it was probably the fAct I didnt try to fit in with the clique. I'm just happy to have an interview and the woman who's interviewing me is in the same school cohort but she graduates next may so we don't know each other. I think this gives me a leg up though

Sorry to hear you had to deal with that situation. I've worked with cliques before and it's never easy. Did you happen to go to HR when they fired you? I probably would have grieved this because there was no notice ahead of time of poor performance and no written warnings. I don't know what state you live in but I'm in AZ and even though its a right to work state they still will be hard pressed to fire you without some record of poor performance. I understand after this maybe not wanting to return but if you need a job I wouldn't just let them let me go without fighting it. Their reasons seem shaky so you have a legitimate argument when you talk to HR.

Sounds like they did you a favor, not having to tolerate their non professional, petty behavior....I am amazed that they keep any new people if that is how unprofessional they behave.
If you want to make an issue of it, you can certainly discuss it with HR, but chances are it will only go back to the manager who, my guess is, is more than aware of the issues on her unit, but finds it easier to stick her head in the sand and pretend it isnt happening.

Well they have lost a lot of nurses in the past year but that was true of my previous job as well. Now looking back at what happened to me I'm quite sure this is th reason. I witnessed one of the clique coming into the managers office one morning after one of our coworkers had a rough night. She basically told the manager that the other coworker was thinking of quitting and that if that coworker quit, she would as well. She used several cussing words throughout her sentences and I was so shocked I told the manager I'd talk to her later and quickly left. Needless to say the coworker who had the rough night never was assigned the PCU again. I think the biggest problem is that the nurse manager has been there a year so most of the clique have more seniority, she really is a nice person just not a fair manager. I don't want to risk losing her good recommendation therefore I'm licking my wounds and not taking further action.

Jaznia, I feel that you should quickly get that promised recommendation in writing, and make lots of copies of it for your job search. My concerns would be, firstly, that someone from the clique will get the "pushover" manager to change her mind about giving you the recommendation. Secondly, I would be concerned that one of these people who lied about you will say more lies and hateful things about you to people who call there. I know that it would be against the law, but that does not mean it won't happen. Just my thoughts. You will be in my prayers in your job search and interviews. I know about unfair firing from my own experience.

I definitely will try to get a written recommendation and make copies. So far on my applications, I've noted that it was a mutual decision to leave during my probationary period because the job was not a right fit. When the lady called to set up the interview, I truthfully told her that I was hired full time but because of school went PRN and I think the manager really needed a full time person. So far it has not been detrimental to me, but I'm hoping this PRN job comes through with this interview on Saturday. The best thing I have in my corner is that I resigned from my first job and that I am still on the payroll at the LTC facility in which I started out as a CNA during college. I have been employed at the LTC facility per diem for four years so I hope that shows that I am not a "job-hopper" which I fear I'm going to look like after this. I'm still shocked that this happened to me especially during a recession. I am a single mother so I always take my job seriously because I only have one income and the fact that I could be fired with no warning scares me to death. The only thing that keeps me from going completely insane is that I'm in school and can always ask for a student loan to pay the bills and I also have some money in my savings. People don't need to operate like that but I guess small town places like that can get away with it.

Update: had interview today for prn float pool position, the lady said as long as all my references come back good, I'm hired and start the 23rd so I'm praying my last boss lives up to her word about giving me a good recommendation